A wide variety of electrical connector assemblies have been designed for mounting on circuit boards. A typical connector assembly includes a base or “board connector” which includes a dielectric housing which is fixed to the circuit board. A mating or “terminating connector” is terminated to a plurality of conductors, and the terminating connector mates with the board connector. The terminating connector can terminate a wide variety of conductors ranging from discrete electrical wires to flexible or ribbon cables or even a second circuit board.
Problems are encountered with board mounted connector assemblies of the character described above, when extraneous forces are applied to the conductors which are terminated to the terminating connector. For instance, if the terminating connector terminates a plurality of discrete electrical wires or a ribbon cable, pulling forces may be applied to the wires or cable. These forces can cause the terminating connector to become unmated from the board connector. Lesser forces may cause the terminals of the connectors to simply become disengaged and destroy the electrical connections through the connector assembly. Still worse, the forces may cause the board connector to become disengaged from the circuit board, itself. The present invention is directed to solving these various problems.